Lebedev: Act responsibly to prevent press crackdown

Oxford University speech laments "trivialisation" of the news.

Independent and Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev condemned the trivialisation of the news agenda as he made a speech in support of press freedom at Oxford University last night.

The 30-year-old son of Alexander Lebedev, urged UK journalists to behave responsibly if they want to keep their freedoms. And talking about phone-hacking and the News of the World he said: "This theft of information by dark, murky methods is not journalism, of which I or my newspapers want any part of. The journalists involved behaved irresponsibly, rashly and recklessly, forsaking their duty of care."

He said: "Unfortunately, their dereliction of duty brings all the press into disrepute. It invites a crackdown of enforced draconian laws and threatens our much-valued press freedom.